NASA has undertaken the design of a manned space station. To decrease both airborne and ground support costs, subsystem designers are encouraged to automate activities ordinarily performed by humans. The Lewis Research Center has been charged with developing a highly automated system for generation, storage, and distribution of electrical energy aboard the Space Station. Conventional algorithms enhanced by expert systems are proposed for this task. An autonomous power system will require the intelligence to schedule power, allocate energy, diagnose failure causes, propose goals, prepare plans, evaluate consequences, and select the best plan for execution. Crew-interactive, expert systems can be ready for automating the initial space station, but complete system autonomy will need more development time.

The need for special Al hardware architectures arises out of support requirements imposed by Al languages. LISP - the language of choice for most Al research and development in the United States - is, in general, poorly served by today's conventional computer architec-tures. To better understand the architectures that will support the Space Station program, Al languages are examined and resulting architecture requirements are discussed. Generic parts required in these special Al architectures are presented, beginning with simple block diagrams and including discussion of their functions. Current and future LISP machine architectures are discussed and a current LISP machine workstation, the Explorer, is examined. The Compact LISP Machine, an embedded com-puter being developed with DARPA funding, is reviewed. Finally, higher functionality uniprocessor LISP machines, the potential for RISCs (reduced instruction set computers), and multiprocessor Al machines are briefly considered.

A major goal of NASA's Systems Autonomy Demonstration Project is to focus research in artificial intelligence, human factors, and dynamic control systems in support of Space Station automation. Another goal is to demonstrate the use of these technologies in real space systems, for both ground-based mission support and on-board operations. The design, construction, and evaluation of an intelligent autonomous system shell is recognized as an important part of the Systems Autonomy research program. This paper describes autonomous systems and executive controllers, outlines how these in-telligent systems can be utilized within the Space Station, and discusses a number of key design issues that have been raised during some preliminary work to develop an autonomous executive controller shell at NASA Ames Research Center.

Computer vision systems applicable for the analysis of complex high resolution aerial images require reliable and robust operators for extracting information from the images. These operators should be able to interrogate the image data and derive meaningful information about the presence of various objects appearing in the scene. In this paper we describe the development of operators that are derived from a texture analysis methodology for performing segmentation of high resolution imagery. The utility of these operators for characterizing various perceptually meaningful properties is demonstrated by performing experimental analysis of urban scenes.

A spectrogoniometer designed to measure the quality of x-ray and XUV dispersive devices is described. The reflectivity of layered synthetic microstructures (LSMs) is presented at three wavelengths (13.3 A, 44.8 A, 67.7 A), corresponding to the emission lines of Cu, C, and B, respectively, emitted from a windowless x-ray tube. In particular, performance of Fabry-Perot etalons in the soft x-ray range is discussed. The observation of the Cu 2p emission spectrum obtained with an optimized LSM dispersor provides a specific example of LSM possibilities for x-ray spectroscopy.

We present the results of our theoretical and experimental studies of the photorefractive effect in single-crystal SBN:60, SBN:Ce, and SBN:Fe. The two-beam coupling coefficients, response times, and absorption coefficients of these materials are given.

An infrared imaging system has been used to measure the thermal response of the print head electrodes during resistive ribbon thermal transfer printing. This has proved to be an effective method for fast, non-contact, high spatial resolution temperature measurements, providing valuable information on the thermal stress upon the head materials and on the amount of energy flowing into the head during printing.

The Multichannel Infrared-Red Temperature Micro-Analyzer (MIRTMA) system is used to experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of a method of multiwavelength pyrometry using least-squares fitting analyses. The MIRTMA is a prototype instrument capable of monitoring temperatures above 1100 K with a spatial resolution of 100 um using spectral radiance measurements at approximately 200 wavelengths in a range of 0.6 to 0.8 um. Demonstrations of this equipment on a heated platinum strip source are described and discussed. The temperature measurements of these sources are generally within 5% of the actual temperature but can be within 1% using certain techniques. Capabilities and limitations of the method and the MIRTMA equipment are presented. The various calibrations used with the technique are also described, particularly with respect to corrections for the nonlinear response of the silicon intensified target (SIT) detector employed. Potential improvements to the instrument based on this work are presented, and it is concluded that the SIT detector should be replaced with a more suitable detector.

A comparison is made between geometric and diffractive parameters of interest for intermediate spherical aberration. The purpose is to identify the transition region where the validity of one gives way to the other so that a best image plane can always be defined by using one of the criteria. In the process a new criterion, first power peak, was discovered that is applicable over the range of interest.

Wavelength and intensity fluctuations in the output of a variable spacing phase-locked laser diode array were investigated. The diode was pulsed at duty cycles appropriate for low order optical pulse position modulation signaling. Both the spectral width and intensity fluctuation levels were observed to increase as the duty cycle was increased.

We describe several techniques for detecting object boundaries in images immersed in speckle noise. Based on the assumption that the image speckle is uncorrelated, optimal statistical procedures are formulated using local tests for changes in intensity. The first method described is parametric: the average values taken from adjacent image neighborhoods are ratioed and compared to a threshold statistic. A cooperative scheme is then described in which the parametric statistic is applied only at the zero crossings of the image resulting from a convolution with a narrowband differential operator. A non-parametric procedure based on a linear rank statistic is also described, which can be shown to be locally most powerful (among rank tests) under the noise assumption. Examples illustrate the effectiveness of each method.

After an outline of the fundamentals of the multilens array combined with focal plane shutter and angle-correct forward motion compensation, the KS-153A Trilens and Pentalens arrays are described. Then the special ground resolution capability of the multilens camera is compared to that of the tri-camera fan, and the geometric imaging capability is compared to that of the panoramic scan camera.

An optical magnetometer capable of measuring static as well as dynamic magnetic fields is presented. An all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer powered by a laser diode was used to measure the strain of a metallic glass strip. Using a magnetic feedback technique and an ac magnetic bias field, a minimum detectable field of 5 Gauss in a 1 Hz equivalent noise bandwidth was achieved. The magnetometer responds linearly from 0 Hz to a 3 dB bandwidth of 253 Hz and has a dynamic range of more than 100 dB.

John E. Stacy has been added as a coauthor of the paper referenced above.

Nearly a year ago, Dr. Henry Lum agreed to serve as guest editor for the November 1986 special issue of Optical Engineering, the subject of which was to be "Automation and Robotics for the Space Station." Dr. Lum, who its Chief of the Information Sciences Office, Aerophysics Directorate, at NASA Ames Research Center, felt that he would have no difficulty obtaining a dozen or more excellent papers related to this very interesting subject. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, only three suitable papers were forthcoming, the consequence of which was a severe dilution of the "special issue." I would like to offer my apologies to the authors Iof those three papers, who fully expected that their papers would be' art of a significant collec-tion Iof papers on the chosen subject, and I'm certain that Dr. Lum joins me iin doing so.

This is the second of a two volume work. Volume 1, which deals primarily with linear optics, was previously critiqued by this reviewer [Optical Engineering 25(7), p. SR- 133, July 1986]. Volume 2 deals with nonlinear optics. According to the authors, both of these volumes were developed as teaching texts for the academic program at the Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona. They state that the design for both is modular and suggest that there is considerable flexibility in the order in which they can be read or taught. For practical applications, the authors say, Vol. 2 can be used without Vol. 1. The approach of Vol. 2 "emphasizes those aspects of nonlinear optics which have proved to be of most value over the past two decades, and are therefore likely to continue to be of importance in the future."